Indian Home Minister blames Pakistan for military base attack

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD: Just hours after a brazen attack on the Brigade Headquarter in Uri, Indian-Occupied Kashmir, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh has accused Pakistan of being responsible behind the attack.

Seventeen Indian soldiers were killed during a pre-dawn attack on the heavily fortified army base which houses of soldiers located 100 kilometers west of Srinagar. This is the the worst such attack for years in the restive region which has brutal repression and other atrocities.

Singh cancelled his upcoming trips to Russia and the US and said that he had apprised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the attack. In a series of tweets, Singh called Pakistan a ‘terrorist country’ which must be isolated. He said that he was disappointed that Pakistan continues to support terrorist organisations.

The allegations have been leveled without any proof or evidence, but Singh said that there are ‘definite and conclusive’ indications that the perpetrators of the attack were highly trained, heavily armed and specially equipped.

This vitriol comes as Pakistan is set to highlight the atrocities perpetuated and human rights violations by the Indian forces in Kashmir at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) which starts on Monday.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is already in New York and the confrontation is highly anticipated, as India seeks to cause further disturbance and interference by attempting to speak about Balochistan. Narendra Modi in his speech on Indian Independence Day on 15th August had made the first direct mention of Balochistan which prove its mingling in the internal affairs of Pakistan.

It may be mentioned that Rajnath Singh has walked out abruptly of a meeting on home ministers of SAARC countries in Islamabad last month, after Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan spoke about the situation in Kashmir. Pakistan is set to host the SAARC meeting in November, but frosty relations are set to overshadow the summit.